Diocese of Guildford
| Diocese of Guildford Church of England | |
| Province: | Canterbury |
|---|---|
 | |
 Guildford Cathedral | |
| Bishop: | Christopher Hill |
| Cathedral: | Guildford Cathedral |
| Organisation | |
| Archdeaconries: | Dorking, Surrey |
| No. of parishes: | 168 |
| No. of churches: | 217 |
| Details | |
| Website: | cofeguildford.org.uk |
The Diocese of Guildford in the Church of England serves the church in western Surrey and parts of north-western Hampshire. It is within the Province of Canterbury. The seat of the Bishop of Guildford is Guildford Cathedral, in the south of Surrey's county town, Guildford
The diocese is a recent one, formed on 1 May 1927[1] from part of the Diocese of Winchester; a second sundering of Surrey parishes out of Winchester, after it lost the east of the county (now the Diocese of Southwark) in 1877.
There is one suffragan bishop in the diocese, the Bishop of Dorking.
Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, or Guildford Cathedral was built between 1936 to 1965 to serve as a cathedral. It is a remarkable example of the architecture of its age; bearing the hallmarks of the plain styles of the interwar years by adapted to a soaring gothic. It was designed in 1932, Sir Edward Maufe, who said: ‘The ideal has been to produce a design, definitely of our own time, yet in the line of the great English Cathedrals; to build anew on tradition, to rely on proportion, mass, volume and line rather than on elaboration and ornament.' Pevsner described the building as 'sweet-tempered, undramatic Curvilinear Gothic', and that the interior was 'noble and subtle.'
Work began in 1936 but halted in 1939 by the war and by the rationing of building materials afterwards. As bricks became available again, the Buy a Brick fundraising campaign was launched and work started again in 1954, helped by more than 200,000 "brick-givers"; community donors.
The Cathedral was consecrated on 17 May 1961 by Bishop George Reindorp in the presence of HM The Queen.
The Cathedral stands prominently on the summit of Stag Hill in the south of Guildford.
Organisation
The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries:
- The Archdeaconry of Dorking, overseen by the Bishop of Dorking and led by the Archdeacon of Dorking, includes the Deaneries of Dorking, Emly, Epsom, Leatherhead, Runnymede, Woking
- The Archdeaconry of Surrey, overseen by the Bishop of Guildford and led by the Archdeacon of Surrey, includes Deaneries of Aldershot, Cranleigh, Farnham, Godalming, Guildford and Surrey Heath.
The Hampshire parishes within the Diocese of Guildford cover the villages of Fleet, Church Crookham, Cove, Ewshot, Minley, Rowledge and their surrounds.
Publications
The six-issue magazine is entitled The Wey and summarises charitable and parish news undertaken by the church connected with the Diocese and its members.[2]
Special ministries
Typically non-parochial ministry in the working hours of local priests, chaplains are appointed to 14 schools, to 10 further education colleges and universities, 23 hospitals and homes, the four prisons, Guildford and Woking town centres, Community of St Peter and Acorn Christian foundation, to the Ambulance Service. The diocese subsidises a BSL-qualified Chaplain Among Deaf People. [3]
Bishop of Guildford
The Bishop of Guildford is the diocesan bishop over the Diocese of Guildford. The title was first created for a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Winchester in 1874, until the new the Diocese of Guildford was created out of Winchester in 1927.
The bishops seat is Guildford Cathedral and his residence is Willow Grange, Guildford.
| Diocesan Bishops of Guildford | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
| 1927 | 1934 | John Greig | Translated from Gibraltar. |
| 1934 | 1949 | John Macmillan | |
| 1949 | 1956 | Henry Campbell | Translated to London |
| 1956 | 1960 | Ivor Watkins | Died in office. |
| 1961 | 1973 | George Reindorp | Translated to Salisbury |
| 1973 | 1982 | David Brown | Died in office. |
| 1983 | 1994 | Michael Adie | Retired. |
| 1994 | 2004 | John Gladwin | Translated to Chelmsford |
| 2004 | present | Christopher Hill | |
| Source(s): [4][5] | |||
References
- ↑ 26 April 1927 The London Gazette
- ↑ Magazine: The Wey Diocese of Guildford
- ↑ Stories About Our Work Diocese of Guildford
- ↑ "Historical successions: Guildford". Crockford's Clerical Directory. http://www.crockford.org.uk/listing.asp?id=693. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- ↑ Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S. et al., eds (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Outside links
| Dioceses of the Church of England |
|---|
|
Province of Canterbury: |